Country music
Country music, also known as country and western or simply country, is a music genre known for its ballads and dance tunes, identifiable by both traditional lyrics and harmonies accompanied by banjos, mandolins, fiddles, harmonicas, and many types of guitar; either acoustic, electric, steel, or resonator guitars. Once called hillbilly music, the term country music was popularized in the 1940s to give it a correct term.
It originated in the Southern United States, and spread throughout the Piedmont area of United States, from Louisiana along the Appalachian Mountains to New York. The music is believed to be derived from British folk music, brought to the United States during early waves of immigration. Rooted in American folk music, such as old-time and Southern Appalachian music, many traditions blended to form country music. In particular, this included cowboy and vaquero Western music and African-American traditional folk songs and spirituals. Mexican, Irish, and Gospel music have had a formative influence on the genre, as have the Polynesian Hawaiian music and the Southwestern styles of New Mexico and Tejano, as well as gospel music, blues modes from blues music.
Country music has remained an integral part of the American music scene, with a recent revitalization in interest since the early 2020s. In 2023, 45% of Americans reported listening to country music, an uptick in the genre's popularity.
Origins
The main components of the modern country music style date back to music traditions throughout the Southern United States and Southwestern United States, while its place in American popular music was established in the 1930s during the early days of music recording. According to country historian Bill C. Malone, country music was "introduced to the world as a Southern phenomenon."Migration into the southern Appalachian Mountains, of the Southeastern United States, brought the folk music and instruments of Europe and the Mediterranean Basin along with it for nearly 300 years, which developed into Appalachian music. As the country expanded westward, the Mississippi River and Louisiana became a crossroads for country music, giving rise to Cajun music. In the Southwestern United States, it was the Rocky Mountains, American frontier, and Rio Grande that acted as a similar backdrop for Native American, Mexican, and cowboy ballads, which resulted in New Mexico music and the development of western music, and it is directly related to Red Dirt, Texas country, and Tejano music styles. In the Asia-Pacific, the steel guitar sound of country music has its provenance in the music of Hawaii.
Role of East Tennessee
The U.S. Congress has formally recognized Bristol, Tennessee, as the "Birthplace of Country Music", based on the historic Bristol recording sessions of 1927. Nashville, Tennessee has also become a common hotspot for many country artists. Historians have also noted the influence of the less-known Johnson City sessions of 1928 and 1929, and the Knoxville sessions of 1929 and 1930. In addition, the Mountain City Fiddlers Convention, held in 1925, helped to inspire modern country music. Before these, pioneer settlers, in the Great Smoky Mountains region, had developed a rich musical heritage.Generations
First generation (1920s)
Country music, still known as hillbilly music at the time, gained an increased audience with the invention of the radio in the 1920s. The largest country music radio show was the Grand Ole Opry, aired starting in 1925 by WSM in Nashville and continuing to present day. Okeh Records, a New York City record label began issuing hillbilly records in 1923, eventually followed by Columbia Records in 1924, and RCA Victor Records in 1927. Outside of New York, Atlanta's country music scene was also important launching many early recording artist's career. The steel guitar entered country music as early as 1922, when Jimmie Tarlton met famed Hawaiian guitarist Frank Ferera on the West Coast. Many hillbilly musicians recorded blues songs throughout the 1920s. The first commercial recordings of what was considered instrumental music in the traditional country style were "Arkansas Traveler" and "Turkey in the Straw" by fiddlers Henry Gilliland & A.C. Robertson on June 30, 1922, for Victor Records and released in April 1923.The first commercial recording of what is widely considered to be the first country song featuring vocals and lyrics was Fiddlin' John Carson with "Little Log Cabin in the Lane" for Okeh Records on June 14, 1923. Vernon Dalhart was considered the first country singer to have a nationwide hit in May 1924 with "Wreck of the Old 97." The flip side of the record was "Lonesome Road Blues", was also popularized. In April 1924, "Aunt" Samantha Bumgarner and Eva Davis became the first female musicians to record and release country songs. Many of the early country musicians, such as the yodeler Cliff Carlisle, recorded blues songs into the 1930s. James Gideon "Gid" Tanner, an American old-time fiddler, was one of country music's earliest stars. With his string band, the Skillet Lickers, in the 1920s and 1930s, many early country songs were written and performed.
File:Carter Family 1927.jpg|thumb|upright|The Carter Family are a dynasty of country music and began with A.P. Carter, wife Sara Carter and Maybelle Carter. Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family are widely considered to be important early country musicians. From Scott County, Virginia, the Carters had learned sight reading of hymnals and sheet music using solfege. Their songs were first captured at a historic recording session in Bristol, Tennessee, on August 1, 1927, where Ralph Peer was the talent scout and sound recordist. A scene in the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? depicts a similar occurrence in the same timeframe. Rodgers fused hillbilly country, gospel, jazz, blues, pop, cowboy, and folk, and many of his best songs were his compositions, including "Blue Yodel", which sold over a million records and established Rodgers as the premier singer of early country music. Beginning in 1927, and for the next 17 years, the Carters recorded some 300 old-time ballads, traditional tunes, country songs and gospel hymns, all representative of America's southeastern folklore and heritage.
Second generation (1930s–1940s)
Record sales declined during the Great Depression, but radio became a popular source of entertainment, and "barn dance" shows featuring country music were popularized, beginning in the Southern United States and spreading north to Chicago and west to California. The most important was the Grand Ole Opry, aired starting in 1925 by WSM in Nashville and continuing to the present day. Some of the early stars on the Opry were Uncle Dave Macon, Roy Acuff and African American harmonica player DeFord Bailey.Drums were looked down on by early country musicians as being too loud and not pure for the country sound. By 1935, Bob Wills added drums to his western swing band, Texas Playboys, despite opposition by the country music venue, the Grand Ole Opry. In contrast, Louisiana Hayride, a less conservative country music venue, kept a house drummer backstage as late as 1956. In the 1960s, however, it was rare for a country band not to have a drummer. File:Bob Willis, T. Texas Tyler, Spade Cooley, Merle Travis, Hank Thompson and Cindy Walker's Stuff.jpg|thumb|Instruments from Bob Wills and other country musicians at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, 2018
Bob Wills was one of the first country musicians known to have added an electric guitar to his band, in 1938. A decade later Arthur Smith recorded Guitar Boogie, which crossed over to the US pop charts, introducing many people to the potential of the electric guitar. For several decades Nashville session players preferred the warm tones of the Gibson and Gretsch archtop electrics, but a "hot" Fender style, using guitars which became available beginning in the early 1950s, eventually prevailed as the signature guitar sound of country. In the 1930s and 1940s, cowboy songs, or western music, which had been recorded since the 1920s, were popularized by films made in Hollywood, with popular singing cowboys such as Gene Autry, known as king of the "singing cowboys," the Sons of the Pioneers, and Roy Rogers. Country music and western music were frequently played together on the same radio stations, hence the term country and western music, despite country and western being two distinct genres. Cowgirls contributed to the sound in various family groups, with Patsy Montana opening the door for female artists with "I Want To Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart". Bob Wills developed the subgenre western swing, bringing in more instruments and players. At its height, western swing rivaled the popularity of big band swing music. Country musicians began recording boogie in 1939, shortly after it had been played at Carnegie Hall, when Johnny Barfield recorded "Boogie Woogie". The trickle of what was initially called hillbilly boogie, or okie boogie, became a flood beginning in late 1945, with notable releases like the Delmore Brothers' Freight Train Boogie, part of the evolution toward rockabilly. The hillbilly boogie period lasted into the 1950s and remains one of many subgenres of country into the 21st century. By the end of World War II, "mountaineer" string band music known as bluegrass had emerged when Bill Monroe joined with Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, introduced by Roy Acuff at the Grand Ole Opry. Gospel music remained a popular component, with Red Foley having one of the first million-selling gospel hits and also singing boogie, blues and rockabilly. In the post-war period, country music was called "folk" in the trades, and "hillbilly" within the industry. In 1944, Billboard replaced the term "hillbilly" with "folk songs and blues," and switched to "country and western" in 1949.
Another type of stripped-down and raw music with a variety of moods and a basic ensemble of guitar, bass, dobro or steel guitar drums became popular, especially among rural residents in the three states of Texhomex, those being Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. It became known as honky tonk and had its roots in western swing and the ranchera music of Mexico and the border states, particularly New Mexico and Texas, together with the blues of the American South. Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys personified this music which has been described as:
"a little bit of this, and a little bit of that, a little bit of black and a little bit of white... just loud enough to keep you from thinking too much and to go right on ordering the whiskey."
These honky tonk songs were associated with bar rooms. The music of these artists who began in this type would later be referred to as traditional country. Webb Pierce, a honky-tonk singer, was the top-charting country artist of the 1950s, with 13 of his singles spending 113 weeks at number one.
In 1951, Williams's "Cold, Cold Heart" earned crossover success with Tony Bennett's traditional pop cover version, which introduced Williams's songwriting to mainstream audiences.